Emery's POV
"Honey? " a muffled voice said through my door. It was my mother; I could tell it was her because of her withered, worried voice, "Sweetheart, please come out. You need to eat. I have dinner cooking downstairs for everybody. It's tomato soup...it will be ready in a minute..."
I heard a sigh.
"Just, come out, please?" she said, "We're worried about you."
It was only moments after what she said that I heard her footsteps softly walk away. I felt guilt flow into my stomach along with the hunger. I have locked myself in my room for three days in order to avoid Silas, and so far, it seemed to be working. He hasn't bothered me. I haven't been disturbed. Once, I even wondered if he'd left because he hadn't come after me yet. But I knew his ways. This was a trick. The moment I step outside my door, he would be at my throat.
But locking myself up in my room had made my family very concerned, and I couldn't tell them why I wasn't coming out. They didn't understand, but I couldn't risk their wellbeing by telling them.
This way, both my sister and I were safe.
I considered calling Aaron, considered asking him if I could stay a little longer. I considered fighting back, maybe calling the cops for a hate crime. And because my stomach rumbled with hunger, I considered forgetting it all and going downstairs for some tomato soup.
I didn't want to bother Aaron, and I doubt the cops would help much. Silas would be put in prison for a couple of years like before, and then be released, only to come straight after me in revenge. My situation was useless, and even though my resolve had been strong these past few days, I couldn't handle this anymore.
You're locking yourself in your room and starving yourself, I thought, You've been peeing in your old bathroom, that doesn't work. He's caging you in and making you too scared to even go down and eat dinner with your family. You're being a wimp. A coward. Do something risky for once.
So I got up and walked to the door. With my hand on the door, I thought, You can do this. And then, I swung open the door.
But something stopped it from fully opening:
A hand.
"Watch it, f*****, " Silas snarled, my weak legs started to shiver as he came into view, "I came up here for your mother dearest to ask if you were coming to eat. Only to be almost hit with your door."
His eyes grew deadly; his smile, wicked.
"Did you know I was there, f*****?" his voice became deeper, dangerous, "Were you trying to get rid of me?"
Now he stepped closer. I quickly blurted out, "No! I-I just wanted to come eat."
"Didn't want to do that earlier though, now did you?" he asked, scanning my skinny body, "Makes me think that you were avoiding me...again."
"N-No!" I lied, as he took a step into my room, praying he didn't feel like breaking anything valuable, "I didn't! I wasn't! I swear!" I hoped I was as good as acting as I thought, as my eyes flickered to the precious glass flower on my nightstand that my grandmother gave me before she died. God, please don't see that, I prayed.
"You're a liar," he seethed, "And a bad one too." He said shutting my bedroom door behind him, locking it. We were alone and unreachable now and he knew it.
"If you want to stay in your room so bad, " he said menacingly, "I'll make sure you can't come out of it."
Then, with my eyes wide with fear, I watched him walk closer to me.
And then came the first punch.
~{()}~
He was right: I won't be able to walk out of my room with bruises like this. My family would wonder how I got them, and I wouldn't have a good excuse because of being locked up the past three days. I scanned the cut on my cheek and wiped the blood from the wound with a wet rag. That evil man scratched me all up with the screwdriver.
This old bathroom has been connected to my room for a while, but the plumbing is all jacked up, and my parents didn't have the money to afford to fix it. Plus, we had a perfectly working bathroom to use anyway. So my bedroom's bathroom was useless; however, the sink worked fine and so did the shower. It was the toilet that was messed up. It reeked in there because I have been using it over the past couple days, seeing as how I didn't leave my bedroom. But now, I was using it to clean up the injuries I had.
There were no bandaids in the bathroom: only rags and old towels. So just cleaning would have to do. I wiped the cut on my side, looking at it through the mirror.
And then it all came crashing through me at the same time. I felt so defeated, so helpless, so weak. I couldn't take it anymore! I tried to fight. I really did! I tried to punch back, but I didn't own that kind of strength. Now, it seemed to make my mind weaker as well.
I stared at myself in the mirror as my eyes teared up.
Now, watch. You're going to cry like some baby, some voice inside me said, You're so weak. So weak.
Usually, I could hold it in, but something this time made me want to cry more.
You're so weak. You hide behind a door to escape your enemies. You'd rather starve yourself than face the facts: you'll never beat him.
Tears rolled down my face, as I felt myself heave from trying to hold them back. Tears were rolling, but I was still, watching myself.
You'll never beat him.
I could slowly feel myself losing hope.
Even in college, it's just like high school. You'll never escape it. Not the taunts, not the punches, not the fear. It will never go away.
I needed to stop. My thoughts were taking me way too far. I knew it couldn't be true, but it felt true.
Stop. I told myself, Stop, you'll have another panic attack. If you can't save yourself, it's not all over, right?
Right?
Right. If you can't save yourself find somebody who can save you.
My family couldn't save me. I couldn't even tell them anything. The only other person who has even held a conversation with me would be-
Aaron.
Would Silas know if Aaron knew?
Silas doesn't know Aaron. Aaron should be safe. Right?
I was sitting on my bathroom floor, breathing heavily as I reached into my pocket and shakily took out my phone.
I scrolled to Aaron's contact: Aaron❤😍
My finger hovered above his contact. Before I could change my mind, I quickly clicked on it. On my phone, a drop of blood from my cheek fell onto the screen, but I didn't mind. Holding it up to my ear, I heard those long beeping noises.
Beeeeeeeeppppp.....Beeeeeeeppppp.....
I hung up. What the hell was I doing?! I can't just ask Aaron this! Yeah, I might know him and have a huge crush on him, but he has only known me for a couple days! That's weird!
My phone suddenly started buzzing in my hand. Oh God! He's calling me back! What do people do in this situation?! Do I answer out of courtesy or just ignore it because I'm avoiding the situation?
No, no more avoiding. I took in a deep breath and answered, holding the phone up to my ear.
"H-Hello?" I asked into the silence.
"Hey, cutie," he said, which made my cheeks blush red, "You called?"
"Um...uh...yeah, I guess I did," I said nervously, "But it's okay, I changed my mind."
"Why? What is it?" Aaron asked, "Is your cousin being a jerk or something?"
Jerk is an understatement.
"Y-Yeah, sort of," I said honestly," But it's okay! I can handle it."
"You can stay another week if you need to," he said, which had my breath caught in my throat, "I know what it's like to be in that situation. If you want to, you can come over. Besides, we need to do more friend-stuff together, right? Things friends do?"
I was overjoyed that he offered and that I didn't have to ask, but I was concerned too. He knows what it's like to be in my situation?
"That-That would be okay? Are you sure?" I asked, not giving my hopes up.
"Of course, cutie," Aaron said, "I promised my sister I would find a friend and you are the unfortunate volunteer."
That made me giggle a little.
"So, what time am I supposed to be there?" I asked, smiling. Okay, I was kind of head over heels for the guy, but nobody needed to know that.
"As soon as possible. I'm so bored studying medical terms alone. You can come quiz me or something," Aaron suggested, "Plus, I'm used to waking up with you on the couch, so it's been lonely."
Did he miss me? my heart swooned.
"O-Okay," I sighed, "I'm leaving right now."
"Great," he said, "See you later."
Then he hung up.
I stared at the screen as his name disappeared, thinking a desperate plea: Save me. You're my only hope.
What are you thinking, Adams? No one can save you but you.
~{()}~
Before I headed to Aaron's apartment, I sent my mom a text saying that I was going out and staying the night at my friend's. I walked to a little store and bought some bandaids and a small cake for Aaron. It was going to be a little thank-you gift for Aaron for letting me stay at his house.
I went into the bathroom and bandaged my scratches, flinching as I applied pressure to the bandaid so it wouldn't come off. The one on my cheek was deeper than the rest and hurt the worst, and the bandaid wouldn't seem to stay on. Frustrated, I ended up throwing the bandaid into the trash and getting out.
The cashier looked wary and suspicious of me because of my bruising face, but he shrugged it off. I knew my bruises were getting worse as the minutes went on, and I worried about it.
Twenty minutes later, however, I had completely forgotten about my face as I stood there with the cake in my hands in front of Aaron's door. It had been a whole three minutes that I have been standing in front of his door wondering whether or not this cake was too cheesy or not. Should I just ditch the cake?
Shaking my head, I cleared all of my doubts and knocked on the door. I heard a loud "COMING!" from the other side.
Aaron opened it with a smile, but when he saw me, his smile dropped.
"Oh God, Emery, what happened?!" his eyes widened, he took my face in his hands and examined the bruises and cut. I reveled in his warmth. "Come in here," he demanded, "I have a first aid kit in my bedroom."
I nodded, setting my backpack of clothes and bandaids and the cake on the coffee table. I followed him into his bedroom, which was the same gray as the rest of the house. The only color was his closet- open and filled with a lot of clothes- in which he grabbed the red first aid kit and instructed me to sit on the bed.
I kept still as he opened the first aid kit and went to work; his concentrated gaze and his steady hand, along with the fact that he knew exactly what to do, reminded me that he was going to college to become a doctor, which meant that he could probably see through any excuse.
"Emery?" he asked, once he had applied a bandage the right way to the cut on my face, "Do you have wounds anywhere else?"
I didn't want him to see the wounds on my chest and sides. In fact, I didn't even want him to see my chest. What if he didn't like the skinny-paleness of me?
"N-No," I lied, turning my head away in hopes that he couldn't read my face.
"You're a really bad liar, Adams," Aaron chuckled. I tensed.
"You're a liar," he said, "And a bad one too."
"What gave me away?" I asked, wondering why my acting was not working.
"For one, you stuttered. Second, you looked away from me, which is a tell-tale sign of a lie," Aaron listed, then looked up at me, "And also, I just have a feeling in my stomach that you're not telling me everything I need to know."
"I can-"
"I know, it's okay. I won't pry," he continued, "But at least let me help you with whatever injuries you have."
"Okay," I said, slowly lifting my shirt up to reveal the sloppy bandaids and the bruises where Silas kicked me multiple times in the ribs. Aaron stared at them for a moment before grabbing supplies from his first aid box.
"I will send Severus after the person who did this if you want me to," he said, opening an alcohol swab, "I'm honestly really angry right now. No one should be treated like this."
"I never said it was a person who did it, " I reminded.
"You never denied it either," he noted, placing a larger bandaid onto my scratches. Suddenly, his warm fingers ghosted over my ribs. I squealed, and put my shirt back over my wounds, looking into his eyes.
"Sorry," he said, eyes still focused on my ribs, which were now hidden under my shirt, "How long has it been since you've eaten?"
"Today would be the fourth day," I answered honestly. He looked up at me with sadness.
"Why haven't you been eating? You ate good when you were here last time," he concluded.
"It's not a regular thing. It's just been these past few days, promise," I said, "But um, it's for reasons I don't want to talk about."
Satisfied with that answer, Aaron nodded and packed up the first aid kit. "I'm glad," he said, "I wouldn't want you to starve yourself." He went over to to the closet and returned the kit to it's original spot. "Are you hungry now? I could cook some food."
"You know how to cook?" I asked in wonder. Aaron did not seem like the cooking type, yet we walked into the kitchen together while he replied.
"The basics," Aaron shrugged, "God, help you if you grew up in a house with my mother and didn't know how to cook at least the basics. You'd be a disappointment."
I smiled, despite the cut on my cheek.
"Well then, I'd love something to eat," I said. I might as well be living in this apartment for the month with my cousin around- so I decided to be honest with him. Oh yeah, and-
"And thank you," I continued.
"For what?" Aaron asked, cocking his eyebrow.
For saving me.
"For letting me stay," I said.
"No problem," he said, "Come anytime you need to."
When he smiled that beautiful smile- a sort of sad smile that made his blue eyes glint gorgeously, I thought to myself: I was bound to fall in love with him at some point.
And he didn't even know it.
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